NCAA '07 HITS THE SHELVES

I bought an Xbox 360 on Friday so I can play the next-gen NCAA, but after the $400 console, extra controller, and a didn’t-think-it-through $60 night of dinner and drinks on Saturday, I can’t afford the game until my paycheck NEXT FRIDAY!

Gotta hope I can convince my buddy who digs the game to spot me the money so we can play until I pay him back.

So yeah, I quietly called in to work to let them know I’d be in late and now I’m just hanging out waiting for Circuit City to open…tick tock tick tock tick tock….

I’ve got to go pick it up on my lunch break as well. Got my 360 a couple of weeks ago as well to prepare. But yeah, after the $400 console, $50 extra controller. $60 game, $50 Xbox Live package, and 10% tax here in Tennessee, its quite a hit on the wallet. If anybody else plays online, my tag is “Bobby Briggs”

I was playing through my final dynasty season in 06 last night (I always play the night before release to ‘retire’ the game), and my PS2 broke. Definitely killed my mood today. As it stands, I’m spending my lunch break calculating a way of grabbing NCAA 07 as soon as I get out of work, as well as rolling up my sleeves to perform surgery on my dying, worthless, POS PS2

Anybody get it for plain old PS2?

 how is it?

Early word is X360 owners are going to be distraught with the game while PS2 owners have been cheering in the streets…

Many reviews can be read here.

What is more shocking, 10% tax or someone in Tennessee can actually aford all of that.

I was starting to wonder why so few people are posting on their blogs today, but …then…yeah! Video games killed the blog roll star, or something like that. Hehehehe

Roggins, you ever see a Volunteer tailgate? There’s plenty of people with some money in Tennessee. Those RV’s and big screen projectors ain’t cheap. Of course, that does take away from things like dental care, a house that isn’t on wheels, etc., but hey, if that’s the way you choose to spend your money…

Hello long weekend and red eyes.

My big gripe with NCAA is I have to enter all the players names. I wish they could get around the issue and just put the players names in there. I don’t want to hear Lee Corso saying “That Number 8 can really run.” It sounds stupid.

LOL…looks like it’s gonna be crickets chirping around the college football blogosphere for a bit…

PSUMike, you can go here to get the full rosters.

PSUMike, or they could just record the nonsensical ramblings of Lee Corso instead…that’d more realistic than anything.

After playing the 360 version for what seems like 6 or 7 hours today, I say that the gameplay mechanics are well done. I think the way that the passing game has been retooled is awesome, and now I actually have more than a middle school passing offense.

Honestly, I could care less about race for the Heisman and campus legend, the gameplay is there and that’s all I care about.

Pros:
Passing mechanics seem better—or maybe it’s just that Brady Quinn is a 97, and I’m used to my QB being a 79.

The “In the Zone” stop-freeze motion is back, and not just for “ITZ” plays. It was pretty cool to get slomo on Samardzija’s 1 handed TD against GTech.

Cons:
That stop-motion….cool every once in a while, not every freaking play.

Run game got much harder—this may be a good thing though, but it had me cursing last night that GTech’s D held me to -3 yards rushing.

Long ball still easy.

Kicking sucks.

The new angle of view on punt/KO returns sucks.

After 2 games, that’s what I’ve got off the top of my head. I like the practice in Dynasty mode, and will need to work on my kicking.

I was somehow able to tear myself away after a single game last night. I thought the controls were better than ‘06. I found running to still be easy, but defense was harder. Maybe its just the plays I used in ’06 don’t work as well, but I gave up a lot of yards in that first game. I also hated how on every close play it switches to that cut scene and I completely loose focus on where I’m going and making the tackle/pick. I also like the momentum meter, which makes the computer controlled team get worse and worse as the game goes on. Instead of the magical comeback AI that can drive you insane. When I got up by 3 touchdowns the computers players basically gave up.

So far, any complaints I have are very minor.

I don’t like the fact that when you hit R2 before the play for a full-field view, it doesn’t take you as high as it did before. It’s an adjustment, but it really doesn’t make it harder to read the defense or anything like that.

The kicking thing took a few shots before I got it right. I’m not a fan of the angle being used on kick returns.

But I love the playbooks. Ah, yes. Playbooks with actual depth on them.

And, since this is a Florida blog, it seems appropriate to point out that I’m using the Florida playbook while I learn what works well and what doesn’t.

The angle on kick returns is pretty frustrating.

I got used to the new kicking controls pretty quickly, but so far they don’t seem to add any value to the game.

I agree that the running game is significantly more difficult. In 2006 it was routine to run for 200+ yards in Heisman difficulty. Last night Mike Hart barely broke 100 against Vandy.

Defenses are more dominant.

This is a minor point, but graphically I think the ball’s physical movements look better on 2007, as do tackle animations.

Finally, a thanks to EA Sports for not including the kind of crap music that was on 2006, like “Jeff Wears Birkenstocks” and “Kill Your Television.”

I was down with the inclusion of “This is Shangri-La” on last year’s game, but it really doesn’t fit a college football game.

Great point about the ball movement and the tackling animation. Both are significantly improved.

And PJ Hill only ran for about 115 yards on 30 carries against Bowling Orange, so I’d say the run defense is tougher.

be that as it may, i went 27-for-35 for 355 and 4 td no picks on AA- they don’t drop balls anymore that they reallly shouldnt! woohoo!

Yeah, hearing “Debaser” by the Pixies when I fired up NCAA 06 for the first time last year was a huge suprise.

Run defense was incredibly tougher. I played ND vs. USC and Darius got held to 12 yards. OTOH, the passing was waaaaaayyyyyy too easy (unless it’s just because I was using Brady and Shark). Here’s the stat line with 7 minute quarters:

QB#10 23 of 25, 545 yards, 7 TD’s, 0 INT’s
WR#83 12 rec, 356 yards (277 before halftime), 5 TD’s

I also found the defense to be easier this year (once again, unless it’s just because EA increased the stats for ND’s defense). I had 4 picks and held SC to 1 TD on a long play-action pass to Jarrett.

Sacrilege! The music in ’06 was great because it had a COLLEGE RADIO feel to it.

The new game is good but I’m not sure I want to keep the 360 version. Dynasty mode has been stripped down wayyyy too much and the players honestly look like NFL third-stringers in their mid-30s. The actual gameplay is pretty nice but I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m playing a tweaked Madden 360 with college uniforms. I’m seriously considering a trade-in for the Xbox version.

I should have mentioned I’m playing the PS2 version.

After another game (Michigan, 42-3 win; I’ll admit I’m on Varsity as a “tune-up” season to get used to the new controls, etc. before I move up to a season of AA, then Heisman), and more observations—the frequency of 1 handed catches is sick, but that may be because Samardzija is the #2 receiver in the game. McKnight had one or two as well.

Passing is ridiculously easy compared to last year, but that might be due to being on Varsity. I’ll reserve judgement for later.

Running is more realistic—instead of a 11.2 YPC, it’s more around 5.2 or so. Interesting to see if this will hold at higher levels. Probably will.

Who uses 7 minute quarters? Seriously what a joke.

i got it for PSP … hee hee so giddy

I just spent 500 for a 360, controller, and game. I liked it…until I started to explore and found that all it has is dynasty mode…and even that is watered down. the graphics are amazing, sure it looks a bit like madden 360 but it’s good enough for me. Running is alot harder, but that makes it a bit more fun. If you don’t play on AT LEAST all american you’re a bitch. I played varsity and won 90-3 Arizona State vs. Arizona. I hated the stock controls I spent a good 20 minutes changing them all to as close to last year’s as i could. Let’s see…defense is a bit harder, I’m not sure when I’m gonna progress enough to try to revive my 4-4 scheme i’m still stuck on 4-3 like a nub. and i havent hooked up to xbox live yet, bumming wireless sucks but it’s free. All in all it’s a good game, but i’m gonna try my friend’s ps2 version and contemplate trading it in for the regular xbox version due to campus legend and practice drills and spring games, all that in depth stuff. but i love my new 360, if i could only get it to play my old xbox games now (error message).